Fantasy Literature

Fantasy literature has a history as long as literature itself, depending on how you define 'fantasy'. If you mean literature in which events happen that are physically impossible, then myths and legends are clearly fantasy.

Tales of the gods interfering in human affairs, in having affairs with humans, turning humans into trees and themselves into swans... precursors to the three-volume omnibuses available today in bookstores.

In the Middle Ages, magical sagas moved from Olympus to the Round Table - knights met maidens offering them magical swords; feats of arms often involved mythical beasts, dragons could be good or bad, depending.

The Faerie Queen, Cervantes' Don Quixote, Swift's Gulliver's Travels - all more or less fantastic.

In the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, fantasy literature became a 'genre' recognized as such, much as the mystery and science (or speculative) fiction genres were being formed. Fantasies of the 'early modern' period were considered mainly for children, with such 'fairy tales' as Alice in Wonderland and L. Frank Baum's Wizard of Oz.

Then midway through the Twentieth Century, the publication of J. R. R. Tolkien's tales of Middle Earth, in The Hobbit and his trilogy, The Lord of the Rings, brought fantasy both to adult readers, and into the mainstream as a publishing genre.

Today, fantasy literature spans a considerable swath, with 'traditional' Tolkien-esque tales of dwarves, elves and dragons proliferating, and 'urban fantasies' (biker elves, suburban moms fighting crime with their superpowers), 'paranormal romances' featuring shapeshifters and time travel, all booming.

This category explores fantasy literature in all its myriad forms.